Loyalty Only to Me
by SolidSapphire1018
Summary: Anali has a difficult choice to make when it comes to the one she loves, Sephiroth. She's willing to die for him, and yet no one seems to be ready to forgive. Can she convince them to make the right choice and save Sephiroth's soul from Jenova? M-lemon.


A/N: Request. :3 It's following along with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. And it's got a little of my own stuff. c: But anywhoo, this is my preview for Sephy fans. Yes, there's a lemon, and yes, it's going to be a bit lengthy because I'm going to try to capture the whole movie's emotions of my OC in one story. However~ If people like it, and I get FEEDBACK, I'll make a whole story. c:

A slight headache stung at the back of my mind. It was one battle after another these days. Marlene and Denzel had both been kidnapped, and now it was just Tifa and me back at the inn. Reno had stopped by and gone out to find the kids a while ago, and I was restless. Tifa and I had fought like hell against Loz, and it still wasn't enough. Cloud found us in the old cathedral and brought us back to the inn. I was way less beat up than Tifa, but still, we both looked pretty bad.

When Tifa finally woke up, Cloud had gone, and she walked downstairs to meet me behind the bar, washing dishes. She picked up the towel and started drying some, even though I'd already dried them once. She was restless too.

"I wish there was something we could do," I said, picking up another glass and scrubbing the inside of it longer than was necessary.

She finally put the last plate and towel down after drying them in silence. "I know."

There were already so many things wrong in the city. All the sick children left abandoned on the street, left to be snatched up by anyone like Kadaj's gang, was only one. Everything went wrong after Jenova came to Earth. I blamed her, and I was pretty sure Tifa did too.

Tifa and I were as close as sisters. We didn't look the same, and we were almost complete opposites, but the last time we were ever somewhere separate was when we fought. And that was a long, long time ago.

Or at least, it felt like it.

"I think I'm going to go take a shower," I said, ignoring the fact that I'd already taken one this morning. I only wanted something more to do. Tifa nodded, but she stopped me anyway.

"Anali," she said, calling my name. I turned back around before exiting the room, my hand resting on the doorway.

"Hm?"

She put the dishes down, finally, and leaned over the bar, crossing her arms on the counter. "Do you ever miss him?"

I sighed, silently. I knew whom she meant, of course. Tifa, Cloud, Reno, _no one_ had understood my love for the one man who hates everything. The one man who seemed so far away from any kind of love, a ring of thorns was thought to thrive around his heart, so that every beat was one of horrible pain. Sephiroth.

My lips curved into a small, sorrowful smile. "Every damn day of my life."

I could see by the look in her eyes that she still didn't understand, and she probably never would. That, I knew. Cloud would never understand or accept it either, because of Aeris. She's the one thing that keeps me from leaving and going to find Sephiroth myself. The guild of knowing that he killed her and me loving him anyway…it felt like a betrayal to Cloud. I hated it, but I also wished he would understand. I just knew Aeris would forgive…she had to.

But no one else understood that, either.

"Does Cloud know?" Tifa asked.

I hesitated in answering, not quite sure myself if he could ever tell. "One would think," I started. "That he could see the look in my eyes every day."

Looking back through the door, I went to go upstairs after taking a glance out the window. What I saw amazed me. "Tifa!" I called.

Footsteps coming from the hallway told me she was coming. "What, what is it?" she asked.

I pointed out the window. "Isn't that Denzel?" A boy stood in the circle of children. His hair was brown and shaggy, drooping over his eyes. It was definitely him.

"Let's go," Tifa said, opening the door to the inn and running outside. I followed her, but I grabbed my dual daggers that rested on a hook by the door. Taking one of the bands off of my wrist, I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, sleek and high on my head. My long brown hair still went down to my back, but at least it would be out of my face.

Running out to the street, Tifa and I found Denzel. She called his name, and he didn't seem to respond. It was so strange. We both knelt down in front of him and looked in his eyes. "Tifa," I said, trailing off after I said her name. "His eyes." She looked, but the thought didn't seem to click in her mind. "They look like _his_."

It was true. Slits for pupils had formed in Denzel's eyes. It had to be Kadaj's doing, but they were so similar. They were Sephiroth's eyes.

Tifa looked around, and before we knew it, something was hunting us, trying to get us away from Denzel and the other children. It looked like a dragon. Yet it also was covered in armor, and it was nearly impossible to work out the actual shape. "Denzel, we have to get away!" Tifa called, trying to shake him out of it. Nothing happened. The dragon drew closer and leaped into the air. Tifa and I looked at each other, thinking it was going to try to attack us. We stood ready.

But no, the dragon landed so that it was above us, hardly paying attention to Denzel, Tifa, or me. Then, it flew on top of the monument. "Of course," I said quietly. Tifa looked at me. "It's Kadaj," I said. "He thinks their "mother" is up there."

"Jenova," Tifa replied. I nodded.

"Let's go!"

A sudden explosion made my ears ring. The dragon had destroyed the monument. It blew Tifa and me backward with Denzel tucked under her arm for protection. I groaned and got up from the ground. Looking around, I saw some old friends of ours. "Hey, it's Reno!" I said, pointing to him fighting Loz and Yazoo across the street.

Denzel had finally snapped out of it, apparently. He took one look at Tifa and me. My head was bleeding from hitting the street, but it wasn't that bad. Still, it was enough to make him angry. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted, which made my eyes widen with surprise. Before I knew it, he was running toward the giant dragon.

"Denzel!" I called, immediately getting up and trying to run after him. Tifa had come to and was following me. We were about to catch up to him when Darrel jumped down in front of us.

Tifa called his name, both surprised and delighted. I smiled.

"Marlene better be safe!" he said and then charged at the dragon.

More of our old friends showed up. Yuffie chose a parachute. And then Vincent showed up. I smiled and hugged him. His free arm wrapped around my waist. "It's good to see you," I said.

"Where can I buy a phone?" he asked me, amused. I smiled and pulled away, and he walked toward the dragon that was terrorizing the city.

Next came Cloud, the last one we were waiting for. He offered Tifa a ride, and I nodded. "Go ahead," I said, unsheathing the daggers from my belt. "I'm going to go find something I can slice up." I ran the opposite direction, down the street, dodging all the pieces of buildings that were collapsing above me.

My main goal was actually to find Kadaj. I would give anything to be able to slice him to pieces. When I reached a building under construction, I found him. There was a box, falling from one of the pillars. Kadaj followed it, determined to catch it before it was smashed on the concrete.

"There's only one thing that could be in there that he could be so worried about," I said to myself, running to get the box before he did. "Jenova." Shinra had kept her remains, no doubt. Her head had to be in that box. It was the only thing that Kadaj would die to save. And he'd just jumped off a building. It was obvious.

I passed Reno on the way, and I saluted him. He smiled and waved back, and suddenly, the box was in my grasp. I flew past all of them with it in my hands.

"NO!" screamed Kadaj. And then he followed me on a motorcycle. I ran up cracks in buildings and leapt from one construction project to another. I could see Cloud following them toward me. We reached the Highway, where a lot of road projects were still underway. No one was supposed to enter it, but that rule was broken quickly.

Loz, Yazoo, and Cloud passed under me while I stood on top of a bridge support. Cloud slowed down and stopped under the support, and I leapt down before Loz and Yazoo could catch up. We were way beyond the tunnel that went underground. I'd gotten a pretty good head start. Where Kadaj ended up, I didn't know. But when I jumped down onto Cloud's bike, I suddenly saw him catching up when I looked behind us. When he ended up next to us, Cloud tried to keep him away from the box and me. But it was no use. A sharp pain went through my arm. Blood leaked down into my hand as the box slipped from my grasp.

Reno and his partner had a plan to get rid of Loz and Yazoo. All we had to do was pass him and his partner. Another explosion echoed through my ears as we finished up the highway and turned onto another road. It led to the cathedral, no surprise, that's where Kadaj had been crying over Jenova's spilled 'blood'.

When he saw us coming, he tried to create obstacles for us by knocking over pillars and breaking through walls. Cloud was good, though, and he could definitely move on a motorcycle. That is, until a pillar didn't stop us, but actually fell on top of us. The bike flipped over, and I fell onto the ground, not being able to see, much less hold onto Cloud. Tons of debris fell on top of me, brick and glass cutting my visible flesh.

Kadaj laughed as the dust cleared, but he was cut off by water.

I stared as the cathedral filled up with the mysterious, green-tinted liquid. It rained down on Cloud and me. At first I was confused, but then the Geostigma on Cloud's arm vanished. The water washed it away. We both looked at his flawless skin on his left arm. Everyone thought it was impossible. There had been no cure, or at least, that's what everyone had thought.

The water scared Kadaj off. It was something he couldn't comprehend. I smiled. "Let's go, Cloud."

Together, we picked up the motorcycle and climbed back on. We rode after Kadaj at top speed. This was the beginning of the end.

-xx—

It was a three way fight between Cloud, Kadaj and I. Two against one. There were several occasions where I had to dodge Cloud's attacks after Kadaj already had. And a few times, my daggers narrowly missed Cloud's neck. While we fought, several things were going through my mind. A couple things clicked; including something Cloud had said when we'd met Kadaj here.

"_I suppose a remnant wouldn't know…_"

I'd asked myself, "A remnant of what?" And now, finally, I realized what he'd meant. Kadaj was a remnant of Sephiroth, and he could transform any second.

I gasped in horror and flinched whenever Kadaj and Cloud's swords clashed. I couldn't bear it.

We were scaling up the wall of a building, climbing higher and higher as the fight went on. My hesitation left me falling behind, clinging onto the wall. Immediately, I began to make my way up. My movements were sloppy, being so determined, worried, afraid, and desperate, all at the same time.

Cloud dodged another attack, and he sent Kadaj flying. Then he was falling, farther and farther down. I pulled out a dagger and scaled down the wall, the metal creating sparks on the concrete building. Kadaj was holding on by his fingertips, and Cloud got there before me. He stood above Kadaj, his sword ready in hand.

"NO!" I cried. A tear fell down my cheek as I landed on my knees on the concrete. I could feel them cut to the bone and the blood start to seep out of my skin, but that didn't matter. I put my wrist on Kadaj's, and from then on, I didn't look Cloud in the eyes. "Please," I begged Kadaj, but really begging the man inside him. "Take my hand."

He wouldn't take it. More tears began to spill from my eyes. "Kadaj…please!" I cried, trying to pull him up. Cloud didn't know what to do. He just stood there for a moment, and then he tried to pull me away. "No!" I screamed at him, reaching down with both hands, desperately trying to pull Kadaj from the cliff. Cloud seemed to figure out what I was doing and why, and he didn't like it. "Let me go!" I screamed louder and louder, kicking and trying to shove away from his grasp, but Cloud held me tightly. My fingers slipped from Sephiroth's wrist. "Sephiroth!"

He fell.

I saw his fingers let go of the edge, almost like he meant it. Cloud became distracted, and his grip loosened. I took the opportunity to run from him. Over the edge, I could see Kadaj falling. Flashes of light went across my vision. It happened once, twice, three times. I tried to look away from Kadaj, from my Sephiroth, only to feel dead air instead of the concrete. My body began to lean forward. Suddenly, I couldn't find the edge anymore. There _was no_ edge. And then I screamed.

There was nothing I could scale down, no wind where I could gain momentum to flip my body around for a safer landing. Nothing I could grab onto, no one to help me. I couldn't even open my eyes.

"Uhn!" I grunted, as someone caught me. I felt his arm wrap around my waist just as I was about to hit the surface of a much lower building. My eyes still wouldn't open. I was afraid to see who it was, or if this catch would define my fate.

"_Sephiroth_," My mind whispered. When my eyelids lifted, I could see the green slits for pupils, the eyes of a vile snake. "Sephiroth."

Our bodies slanted together perfectly while he had me dipped over, his long sword at his side, pointing away from me. His lengthy bangs brushed across my shoulders and chest in the breeze. Despite the hate I could feel radiating off of him, there was something else. A dose of warmth and comfort was reaching my senses.

I couldn't see out of my direct line of sight. I couldn't hear anything else but our breathing, his ragged, mine deep. I didn't feel anything besides his grip on my waist, and for a moment, if only a moment, I thought it was a dream.

My hand, previously draped down at my side, reached up to Sephiroth. He didn't move, didn't even blink. My fingertips grazed his cheek and pushed the locks of hair out of his face. Nothing changed in his stance. He still didn't move. But something changed in his eyes. A glare reached the snake-like pupils.

"And so the arms of destiny have brought you back to me," he finally spoke. His voice sounded so deep, masculine. It was gorgeous. _He_ was gorgeous. Everything about his life was beautifully tragic.

"I never left," I reminded him, quietly. There was a time when Sephiroth was a determined Soldier. He was the best, the most admired, and he'd picked me for the role of the girl he wanted to spend his life protecting. And then Jenova interfered. She got into Sephiroth's mind and polluted it with thoughts of destroying the planet instead of protecting it, all for her benefit. Even when her physical form was destroyed, she still lived on inside her son. Inside every child that bears her DNA. There had to be a way to end this. "Cloud, no!"

In a matter of seconds, I was whipped behind Sephiroth's back. He still guarded me, even from my own side. I know Sephiroth was conflicted. I didn't know if he loved me, but he wanted me near him always and to always protect me. He wanted me to follow him to a new planet after Earth was destroyed. The only things that kept his horrible plans at bay were Cloud and I, in two completely different ways.

"Stop it!" I screamed as their swords clashed together. Both of them ignored me, of course.

"Good to see you, Cloud," Sephiroth greeted him, a smirk playing onto his lips. Despite how good Sephiroth looked with a smirk on his face, it scared me.

Darkness began to fill the skies. It was Sephiroth. He was already planning a strike on the planet. I had to stop this. There had to be a way.

I made my way between the both of them, pushing their swords apart with my bare hands. The blades slit through them, and though the blood dropped onto the concrete, I ignored it. Sephiroth's arm snuck protectively around my waist as I stood in front of him. He wasn't convinced that Cloud wouldn't cut through me to destroy him. And Cloud wasn't convinced vice versa.

"Stop this," I said, narrowing my eyes at Cloud. A deep glare protruded from my eyes. He glared back.

"You _know_ what he is capable of," he said. "You _know_ what he's done!"

"And he's already been forgiven!" I cried out.

Cloud's hands slipped down to his sides. The tip of his sword hit the concrete as he lowered it. I kept one of my bloody hands on Sephiroth's wrist, just in case. "What do you mean?" Cloud asked, narrowing his eyes. "Who would forgive him?"

"The very life he previously took," I said, with plenty of venom in my voice. "_Aeris_ forgives him, and you know this." Cloud and I both had a connection to her. We saw her in our dreams; spoke to her in our minds. He always asked about forgiveness, but he never mentioned forgiving the one who took her away. I did. "He has the potential to live the right way. I know it! Look at how he looks at me, how he stops everything to hold onto me. There _is_ good in him!"

"You act like he wants to be accepted here," said Cloud. "Just look around you, Anali! He's already planning something!"

"It's not his fault!" I cried.

"Not his _fault?_" Cloud questioned. "Who else do you propose is to blame?"

"JENOVA!"

I felt Sephiroth tense behind me at her name. Cloud's glare became more fierce, and he clenched his fist. "What do you mean?"

"She saw the power in him! She knew he was the best, and she knew she could make him hate everything if he just found out the truth! If he just found out that he had _help_ to be the best! If he found out that he was _made_ to be the best, he would start to hate himself and eventually hate everything. She _knew_ that!" I ranted between the two of them. "And we cannot let her win."

Sephiroth tightened his grip on my waist. "Don't act like I'm going to turn into an angel by a few of your words," he said threateningly in my ear.

I turned toward him. "No, not for the sake of the world, not for the children or the people or the lives you want to destroy," I said. "Not for Cloud or Aeris or your _real_ mother, but for me?" I begged. The tears soaked at my eyes. "Please, just live in the world. Help rebuild it instead of destroying it. Help cure these children instead of infecting them. Make peace instead of war. Please."

I gasped, as Sephiroth was able to lift me from standing between him and Cloud, to shoving me against the concrete wall. I cried out when my head hit the wall, out of reflex. A flash of worry crossed his eyes; he hadn't meant to hurt me. I didn't care at the moment.

"The world will never trust me," he said. "If I don't hate myself now, everyone else will. I'll be criticized, ridiculed, maybe even hunted. Forced away from you to avoid captivity from the fear of others. My only way to live is to destroy what wants to destroy me."

"I'll protect you," I whispered, looking away. "We'll run away, go somewhere they can't find you. Please…don't do this to the world that taught you how to survive."

After a moment, I could feel Sephiroth's grip on my shoulders soften. I felt one small break from his hard grasp, and then everything happened at once.

First, I could see Sephiroth's eyes glaze over with a glowing pink color. Then, he backed away from me, pulling his arms away from my shoulders completely. I was confused and a little afraid. Not his eyes, not his control. "Sephiroth," I said. "Please, don't-"

The blade that sunk into my stomach suddenly cut me off. Sephiroth held the handle tightly in a gloved hand. His eyes still were tinted pink. "Sephiroth," I choked out. The feeling of the blade cutting through my flesh was unbearable pain. The sharp edges scraped against my skin, and I could feel the blood begin to pour out.

"_His loyalty is only to me!_" shouted a deep yet feminine voice.

I looked up at the one who had possessed Sephiroth. "Jenova?"

She smirked at me. Sephiroth's own body flashed between his and hers. The unclothed body held for harvesting cells.

I grasped the blade, despite how cut up my hands was already. "You…can't do this!" Shoving it out of my stomach, I stood up. Her own cells were placed inside me, I remember that much. A Soldier, just like Cloud and Sephiroth. I had the endurance of a bull. One little stab wasn't going to kill me, and Jenova knew it as well as I did.

I blinked, and then Sephiroth was gone, subdued above me in the air. I didn't know what was going on inside him, but I could see both him and Jenova fighting for control. I clutched the wound in my stomach, and Cloud came to help me walk as we watched the battle going on inside Sephiroth.

Cloud lifted me up and then placed me in the shade under an edge. He told me to hold on and that he'd be right back. "Okay," I said. "Cloud?" He turned toward me. "Please, don't hurt him."

Cloud did nothing but turn around. He climbed the walls of buildings up to Sephiroth's level in the air. I watched in horror as his sword unfolded and separated. Five blades circled themselves around my Sephiroth. They sliced at him. One, two, three, four, five times. Tears stung at my eyes. I screamed in horror. The wound in my stomach was nothing compared to what I felt in my heart. Suddenly, his body froze in mid air, and Sephiroth unfolded his wing. It wrapped around him, and he disappeared. Kadaj fell to the ground, almost completely lifeless.

My scream echoed throughout the city. "SEPHIROTH!"

-xx-

Due to the distance between my body and the wall, when Sephiroth stabbed me, it went through and through. It had narrowly missed my organs, but the doctors said I would live. The cuts on my hands from Cloud and Sephiroth's blades had gotten infected, but that wasn't anything to worry about. After two weeks, I was able to get back to my normal self. I was even practicing combat with Cloud again.

"She hasn't even so much as smiled in the past month," I heard Tifa whispering to Cloud one night when we were closing up the inn. I pretended not to hear, though I did want to know what Cloud had to say.

"I know."

"Have you talked to her about this? Tried to explain?" Tifa asked.

Cloud answered, "What is there to say?"

I put more distance between the three of us, not wanting to hear anymore. I knew Cloud wasn't sorry, even if it hurt me. When I went back into the room, they shut up, and I put on a sweatshirt and told them I was going out for a little bit. Tifa nodded at me, but Cloud didn't look me in the eye. I scoffed and walked out into the cold night.

In an alley, a little away from the inn, I'd put my own engraved stone behind a restaurant. Once, every week, I lit a candle in remembrance of the man I loved, the man who was hated by all but one. Truly, no one believed he was dead, and neither did I. The sake of the prayer I said was for Sephiroth and that he would find his way back to living peacefully.

I stayed sitting there until clouds covered all the stars and rain began to pour down. The candle went out, and still I stared at where the flame used to stand tall and burn so bright. It just took the control of one raindrop to bring it down.

It was so dark without any starlight. Even the lightning was dim. However, there was one flash that lit up all of my surroundings. To my left, I could've sworn I saw someone move; a tall someone. My hopes spiked. I got up from the wet ground, leaning against the wall for support. I whispered lightly, "Sephiroth?"

A dark laugh echoed through the darkness. "Little girls should know not to be out after dark," it said. A man with dark hair and a bit of a five o'clock shadow stepped out of the shadows. I started to back away. When I didn't respond, he walked faster, with more determination, toward me. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you that?"

I was soaking wet by now, trying to find my way out of the alley in the darkness. But when I eased along, he followed me. As a Soldier, I could probably take him on. But as a girl, freezing cold in the middle of the darkness, I just wanted to run back to the inn.

And that's what I did. I turned around and ran for it. The city was obviously still trying to clean up its people. It was a slow process. I probably should've seen it coming. The rain pelted my face. It was so cold, and the ground was so slippery. "Ah!" I cried out as I fell to the ground. When I turned around, I couldn't see anyone. I thought I was safe, until I saw the tall figure of the man was still walking toward me through the rain.

He towered over me, and my hands began to shake. He knelt down next to me and took me by the collar of my sweatshirt. "You could be hurt by a _stranger_."

Just as I turned my head to look away, he raised his fist. He hit me once, twice, three times. I could taste the blood on my lips, and my head hurt. He went in for the fourth, and I looked away.

Nothing happened. I heard a couple grunts, and then it sounded as if someone was choking. It was the stranger. I couldn't see who the other person was. Maybe Cloud? I'd expected him or Tifa to come looking for me in the storm. The lightning flashed again, brighter, and I gasped.

"Sephiroth?"

His tall, masculine figure stood in front of the man who was pushed against the wall. A gloved hand was wrapped around his neck. I'd gotten a glimpse of the cold glare that came from his eyes. It made me shutter. The shock was unbelievable. I felt like I couldn't move. No words would come out of my mouth, except, "Sephiroth, stop it!"

A few more seconds of the man trying desperately to breathe, and then Sephiroth let go. The man fell to the ground and gasped for air. Sephiroth said nothing, and he didn't have to. The man took off into the night.

Another flash of lightning, and Sephiroth was looking at me. He strode toward me and reached down a hand. I took it, and he helped me stand up. As soon as I did, all the pain rushed in my head. Everything twisted in my vision, and what I thought was standing straight up, wasn't. It wasn't long until I was heading back towards the pavement. Of course, Sephiroth caught me. His expression hadn't changed, but he caught me nonetheless. "And so, the arms of destiny have brought you back to me," I whispered, smiling a little.

"Destiny only had a partial place in it." His arms wrapped around me and lifted me up. I held onto his neck and rested my head on his chest. He knew the exact way to the inn from the alley.

"You've been here before," I said, not asking a question. He didn't reply but only walked in the door.

Tifa was still awake, doing the dishes again. "Anali, is that you?" she called.

"Yeah," I said, not looking away from Sephiroth.

When Tifa walked into the front hall, he was just helping me stand up. He held my waist from behind me until I told him to let go, and I kept a hold on his wrists, just in case. Tifa gasped. Her eyes widened as she stared at the man who hated existence. "Tifa," I said, not moving from in front of Sephiroth. "You have to understand-"

She cut me off, apparently gaining composure real fast. Tifa held up a hand to stop me from speaking and said. "I know." She smiled, and I returned it. "I was just…surprised, that he was able to come back as himself."

I hadn't known that Tifa knew about Jenova taking over Sephiroth. She quickly came up and hugged me. "We were so worried about you. Why are you all wet? And what happened to your face?" She brushed her fingers against my lips, a few drops of blood dripping onto them.

"Oh, yeah," I said, wiping my mouth with my sleeve. "I got into a little trouble with a man on the street." I paused and blushed, looking up toward Sephiroth. "He saved me."

"Tifa!" called another voice. It was Cloud. He was coming into the front hall. I pushed Sephiroth toward the stairs. He wasn't visible from where Cloud stood after he entered the room. Still, my heart pounded in my chest. "Anali, what happened to you?" Cloud asked, looking at my soaked clothes and bloody face.

"I just ran into some trouble," I said.

"And you fought them off by yourself?" he asked, in shock.

"Not exactly."

He gave me a curious look, and then his eyes turned to a glare of daggers. Sephiroth had walked into the front hall and placed his arm around my waist. He didn't say anything, which left either Tifa or me to explain.

"Cloud," she said. "He saved her."

Cloud looked between Sephiroth and me. I swore my heart was pounding so loud that everyone in the silent room could hear it. All I could do was watch Cloud with eyes full of emotion.

He nodded, and that's all he did. Cloud's eyes were on Sephiroth, who nodded back. Finally, Tifa and I were both able to relax our bodies. I hadn't realized how much I'd tensed up against Sephiroth. There wasn't any distance between my back and his chest until Cloud left the room. "Can he stay?" I asked softly, hopefully. Cloud turned his head half way around, looking at me with his eyes. He nodded again, and said nothing more.

Tifa placed her hand on my shoulder as I looked toward the ground. "It will be okay." She sounded so certain; it made me feel better, more confident in Cloud and Sephiroth. Then Tifa hugged me. "Go get some rest," she demanded, softly. Before going out after Cloud, Tifa placed a hand on Sephiroth's arm. I stood more to the side so she could look him in the eyes. She smiled, but not like the smile she gave me.

However, it was good enough for me because of what Tifa said. "I forgive you."

-xx-

I took Sephiroth's sword from him and placed it against the wall in the corner of the room. This time, I was careful not to touch the blade. I still had scars on my hands from the previous month.

Tifa had redone the inn so that it was more of a house for her, Cloud, Denzel, Marlene, and me. Each room had either separate twin beds or a large queen-sized bed. Mine was one of the queen-sized bed ones. "You look tired," I said to Sephiroth.

He began to grow more comfortable around me and actually sat down on the bed. Despite our previous relationship during training, I knew Sephiroth had needed to warm up to me all over again every time we were apart. I didn't blame him, either.

I took the belt from my waist with my daggers on it and hung it from a hook on the back of my door. It wasn't where they belonged, but I didn't feel like walking all the way back downstairs. When I turned around, Sephiroth was directly in front of me. I gasped lightly, but he just put a finger to my lips. "You're still bleeding."

I knew. I could taste the blood. I sighed. "Damn." Opening up the bedroom door, I walked out to the bathroom to grab a rag and fill it with hot water. Putting it to my lip, I held it there until I couldn't taste blood anymore. Sephiroth came in beside me and leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. It took me a moment to realize that his Soldier uniform had been removed. He stood there, arms crossed and shirtless. I blushed and looked away, pretending to examine my lip. There was a small cut, which surprised me. It looked and felt okay, and I didn't have any black eyes or bruises on my face.

"You look tired," said Sephiroth. I smiled at his mimic of my words.

I shut the light off in the bathroom and walked back to my room. I wondered if Sephiroth would accept that he was staying with me or ask where his room was. Then again, if he didn't, he wouldn't have removed his armor and Solider Uniform. When he walked back into the room, I closed the door and went to the mirror. I looked at myself more and then at Sephiroth. "I'll help you if you're willing to help yourself," I said, softly. "You need to let go of this hate."

I watched from the mirror as he got up off the bed and walked toward me. His arms wrapped around my waist, yet he said nothing. Being in his arms felt so warm. It was unbelievable how much I'd missed it. I'd missed the way he looked at me while we trained, how he would protectively hold me.

His cold eyes stared me down, and his cheek grazed against my long hair. It was still pulled back in a ponytail. Sephiroth reached up to the band and slowly took it out of my hair. Every strand fell down my back, and then Sephiroth turned me around. Most people couldn't tell the difference between the looks Sephiroth gave you. There was only a little movement from a glare to anything else. But I could tell. Those snake-like eyes proved to be so transparent.

Then he kissed me.

Sephiroth had kissed me before, but it was only a kiss on the cheek or a quick one before training. And that felt like so long ago. This was different. Our lives were different. The world was different. The kiss was different. Our lips locked, and Sephiroth leaned forward, making me arch my body back against the dresser over which the mirror stood. Our bodies matched in that perfect arch again, and Sephiroth's hands moved up my back into my hair. He tangled his fingers into it, pushing me closer into him.

Every few seconds that passed by became longer. The kiss became more passionate, more powerful. Sephiroth's low growl was pushed inside my lips and muffled. He moved his lips down my jaw, then my neck, and finally to my collar, where he stopped. His breathing had grown ragged, and his stare became more intense. My cheeks had flushed, and I breathed heavily.

As the storm raged outside, I backed against the wall and searched for the light switch behind me. When the lights in the room went out, the lightning was our only guide. It flashed. Sephiroth pulled me to him. He kissed me again, just like before. I felt my back hit the bedpost. His hands roamed my body, trying to find the buttons to the vest that I wore. I took his wrists and guided them. He unbuttoned one, then another, and another. He kept going until the fabric was draping at my shoulders. Sephiroth was gripping my arms tightly, preventing the vest from falling all the way to the ground.

"Sephiroth," I breathed as his lips left mine for my neck. He traveled across it, tasting my flesh until an uncontrolled moan slipped from my mouth. His tongue grazed the same spot several times. It was unbelievable, the pleasure of that feeling. I moaned more and more, not able to control it. Another low growl escaped from Sephiroth's throat. He let go of my arms for only enough time to let the vest fall to the floor.

Guiding me away from the bedpost, Sephiroth led me to the sheets that covered it. He pressed me down on the unmade bed, leaning on top of me to kiss more. His hand moved from my arms to my chest. His palms formed cups around my breasts. He rounded them to my back and unhooked my bra with surprising ease. I felt the fabric get pulled from my chest and heard it land onto the floor. Another flash of lightning, and I could see Sephiroth staring down at my body.

His weapon of choice was his lips yet again. They moved from my own to my jaw, my neck, my collar, and then to my chest. He kissed my breasts and grazed his tongue against my right nipple. I could feel the spark of pleasure go down my spine, and I moaned. He did it again, and again. Then he moved to my left nipple, still cupping both of my breasts in his hands. This time, I could feel him bite down softly. It made me shutter. I blushed in the darkness, feeling my own body want to give in to this pleasure.

Then, suddenly, he stopped all together. Sephiroth's body leaned over mine more, and his cold eyes moved to look down into mine. I tried to control my breathing, though it was impossible. He closed in on me, and our lips locked. It was so simple and so passionate. Sephiroth's fingertips moved down my chest and then my stomach, sending tingles down my spine. A small moan escaped my lips into the kiss.

Sephiroth's hand finally rested at the waistline of my battle shorts. I parted my lips, granting him any entrance he wanted. As I did, he worked his other hand down and slipped his fingers through my waist. I felt the fabric slide down my legs and off of me, with Sephiroth's lips pulling away as well.

"What do you want most?" Sephiroth growled, lowly in my ear after he leaned back over my body.

"You," I said, breathlessly and without hesitation. "I want…you."

Sephiroth took my hands in his. He guided them by my wrists down his toned chest. My hands were still cold, and his body was warm. The touch made him growl and his breathing become ragged. I reached his waistline, and I took off the remainder of his clothing while looking straight into his snake-like eyes. Those beautiful snake-like eyes.

They moved to search my body, examine it and take in every feature. He placed a hand on each side of my waist, his own moving comfortably between my legs. "The one thing I couldn't bear to be destroyed. You're in the grasp of my arms once again," he said in a soft, rough tone.

"Our Soldier days seem so long ago," I whispered.

Then I cried out Sephiroth's name. He'd caught me by surprise, choosing the silence after my words to guide himself inside me. I'd never felt anything better and worse at the same time. My waist felt as if it were stretching, the pain almost unbearable. And yet, there was something else, something about the way he felt inside me that made my cheeks flush pink with pleasure.

Sephiroth leaned down to me, his chest just barely touching mine. "Did you really want to be mine, forever?" He kissed my jaw, almost hungrily. I looked at him, knowing exactly what he'd meant by the question. The blood of my virginity had already begun to drip.

"It's what I've wanted most."

More pushes of Sephiroth's body against mine, and the pain got better. It began to feel unbelievable, like no pleasure I'd ever felt. Not just the feeling of sex, but also the feeling of making love with the one man I could ever dream of sharing it with. He wanted to destroy everything, hated everything…except the one who would accept him no matter what.

I could feel Sephiroth's grip on my waist tighten. He pushed faster, harder, even without my permission. I clenched my fingers around the bed sheets, holding in a very longing moan. Faster yet, and then harder. Sephiroth was all the way inside. I could feel it. It went on for a few moments longer, and then a spike of pleasure shot through me. I could feel my climax building, even before I knew what was happening.

"Sephiroth," I breathed. "I…can't…" Words failed for the emotions I felt just then. Sephiroth had not only thrusted into me, but also pulled my waist up further onto him. My back arched, and I dug my nails into the sheets. I could feel my muscles tighten around him, and at the same time as my moan, Sephiroth growled. It was low and full of pleasure.

I felt him continue once, twice, then three more times. More and more, until he groaned, a hint of my name under his breath. His pace slowed, and his grip on my waist became tighter. Once again, twice, three times, and I felt warmth inside of me. It was strange, yet pleasurable, and then Sephiroth collapsed.

I could feel his every movement as he exited my body but remained laying on my chest, his hands at the sides of my shoulders, his face above me with his bangs over his eyes and drooping onto my shoulders. I brushed a side of them out of his snake eyes, and he took a deep breath. His lips leaned into my hand as it passed his chin, and he laid a simple kiss on my palm.

"Stay with me," he whispered in a ragged voice. He closed his eyes and switched his position so he was at my side, flat on his back. I moved so that my forehead touched the side of his and my hand was across his chest.

"Forever," I whispered back. "And we'll fight together."

"Jenova," he said.

I nodded. "And anyone else who becomes a threat."

He nodded. "But never kill."

"No," I whispered. "Never kill." Sephiroth finally understood it, the value of life. And I would continue to show him more and more until all the hate disappeared. Until he was the brave, loyal Soldier he used to be.

"How will I know whom to trust" He asked, his eyes closing as his hand made its way around my waist, holding me tightly. "And where my loyalty lies? Will you teach me?" His voice was raspy and low, and somehow…happy. I smiled and closed my eyes, letting him have the one piece of encouragement that I could. It was the only thing he needed to know right now. The rest would come in time, and he would understand it all.

"Your loyalty is only to me."


End file.
